United Rugby Championship: Round 10 (I think) - the catch up fixtures

[TRF_stormer2010]

Weekend of Feb 25/26/27

Zebre - Bulls
Leinster - Lions
Connacht - Stormers
Benetton - Sharks

Welsh derby outstanding for R10 to be played 19 Apr.

My picks for Ws in bold. I'd like to think the Stormers and Stormers 2.0 (aka Sharks) are in for a win but Stormers are carrying a lot of injuries (though I read Roos at least is training and Wolhuter is getting back into the swing through Currie Cup games- Libbok has been going well though) and even though we've had a good run at home we are yet to do the business up North. The Sharks have underperformed depsite a stacked side so I would not put it past them succumbing to Benetton away frm home.

Talking about underperforming you cannot not mention the Bulls but surely vs Zebre... Leinster can send in their 3rd team to trash the Lions. The 6N won't hamper their run.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

The Benneton and Connacht games could be crackers. Zebre's first game with their Argentine coach is not likely to be a winning one.

 

[Al Bangor]

The Warriors have been on a roll and I'm selfishly bummed out that they're not playing this weekend. But I'm sure they appreciate the time to rest a little.

 

[unrated]

The quest for Champions cup glory resumes on Saturday ! The budgets and big squads needed for playing in the Currie cup, URC and Champions cup in one season with the World Cup also on will be glorious. So many new talents to be found littered in between Springboks who will play minimal games for their clubs at some points. I foresee the best players staying with the lure of the champions cup.

For now, we need to see if the away wins can start to be normalised so that we can think of stealing points off Leinster in South Africa.

I fully expect to beat Benneton with a bonus point. They are missing a lot of players.

Lions to **** the bed vs Leinster (Leinster to win)

Bulls and Stormers to win.

 

[big ginger 8]

15. Max O'Reilly (7)

14. Tommy O'Brien (15)

13. Jamie Osborne (12)

12. Harry Byrne (30)

11. Dave Kearney (171)

10. Ross Byrne (116)

9. Nick McCarthy (42)

1. Ed Byrne (77)

2. James Tracy (135)

3. Michael Ala'alatoa (12)

4. Devin Toner (273)

5. Joe McCarthy (1)

6. Josh Murphy (53)

7. Dan Leavy (76)

8. Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN (199)

Replacements:

16. Seán Cronin (200)

17. Peter Dooley (98)

18. Thomas Clarkson (11)

19. Jack Dunne (16)

20. Max Deegan (76)

21. Luke McGrath (163)

22. Adam Byrne (62)

23. Scott Penny (34)

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Lions in it v a 2nd Leinster at the half. Choppy game. Some inaccuracies from both teams and the referees. Very odd. Lions got away with 2 very clear forward passes. But I have yet to see a Leinster line out throw not go straight to a Leinsterman so evens out I suppose.

Lions also not getting much pay from a dominant scrum.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Oh beautiful scrummiging from Sadie. Is he going to get his Bok cap this year? A log jam at 3 with Malherbe, Koch, Nyakani, Louw, Du Toit but Sadie the top man in my books. First took note of the man for doing a number on Kitshoff what 3 years back.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Well. The Lions' luck have run out.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Serious tackle.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Of course HB is injured. Standard procedure

 

[Groundhog]

Of course HB is injured. Standard procedure

Egads that's Ben Healy's entrance music

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Impressive win for Connacht without Carty and Aki. Zebre leapt out to a 7-0 start with their new Argentine coach, then remembered they were still Zebre and capitulated.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Not unexpected results. I'm just frustrated with the Stormers' lack of composure. Peterson fully had no chance of catching that ball and Nel didn't even try to wrap. And its not just those yellows that swung it in Connachts favor. The general kicking game that was sublime vs the Lions in our last outing went to being atrocious. Sure, we missed Gelant but still. And the handling was woeful. Not going to be bothering any of the bigger teams if that's what we are going to be offering. Depth also an issue.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Still. We are missing 3 key players in Malherbe, Moerat and Gelant. That said we are going to be without Gelant next season. Hoping to get some players in and retain the bulk of those working for us ATM. Missing DDA in these poor under foot conditions. Surely we have a hard to put down centre somewhere in SA.

 

[saulan]

Yea, I was really disappointed with that result. I thought we needed to win this one to be in a good position for the top 4 push I previously mentioned but now it will be tough.

Frustrating because it feels like it was thrown away. They had good momentum and got themselves a 10 point gap and then it was thrown out the window.

Thought Petersen had a terrible game. Dropped quite a few balls under no pressure, but did well in the DW try (fair to him, he isn't a fullback and seemed like he had to cover fairly last minute, but YC was also stupid).

DW once again had a great game, while the interlinking with Libbok and Senatla seemed strong (David's I felt was a lot more anonymous). Deon Fourie was probably the difference for us in the first half with his stealing and running, I'm so glad to see him back for the Stormers, although hope he isn't injured for too long after missing the second half.

We lost that game in the end because of poor discipline/stupid mistakes. You can't go 20 minutes with a man down in those conditions. Both cards also equally pointless on our end.

Also, that was a bit of a warning sign to other NH teams to learn how to defend mails. We used that a lot and it earned tons of meters with cynical play seemingly becoming the go to to stop it e.g. picking up players legs to slow it. I wouldn't even say we are the best in that regard, probably would flag it more as a warning vs the Sharks or the Lions.

 

[big ginger 8]

Andy Friend with a new term for the bench, 'bouncers'. I think I actually prefer 'finishers'.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Nick Mallett slamming the ref in the Connacht Stormers tie. See, I get where he is coming from but TBH it doesn't help any and we certainly let ourselves down more than anything else. Not helpful and if anything it adds sourness in the general public te the URC

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Nick Mallett slamming the ref in the Connacht Stormers tie. See, I get where he is coming from but TBH it doesn't help any and we certainly let ourselves down more than anything else. Not helpful and if anything it adds sourness in the general public te the URC

From the highlights the ref did seem to have a somewhat abrupt manner towards the end when giving decisions (justly I think) in favour of Connacht. And yes, the sports media needs to realise that ranting about refs in marginal issues repels as many viewers as it attracts. Ultimately it's a really dumb way to try and gain viewers/readers for the sport you are covering.

Well reasoned arguments against referees are fine, but most of the stuff I read about refs is from people failing to grasp that if you refereed rugby in a black or white way, you'd get literally hundreds of penalties a game. The first week of the SA sides playing in Europe and of all the hundreds of things you could talk about, to choose to talk about refs is unusual.

 

[Al Bangor]

For those who are still trying to figure what round it is...it's Round 13.

Match Centre - United Rugby Championship

Explore upcoming and live fixtures as well as exploring how to watch and listen live with the match centre. Click here to view the full fixture list.

www.unitedrugby.com

Glasgow (3rd place) should beat Scarlets in their march to the playoffs. We Are Warriors!

 

[Al Bangor]

Never mind...